


Lonely No More

by coincidental101



Category: Heavenly Sword
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-09
Updated: 2012-07-09
Packaged: 2017-11-09 12:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/455400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coincidental101/pseuds/coincidental101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nariko and Kai were close, more than simple friendship, perhaps more than sisterly admiration, when it was time for the prophecy to either fulfill itself or...well.<br/>But how did Nariko find Kai and form their strong bond?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She was on a mission. Determined strides over the thick, cold snow covering the mountains took her toward an honorable endeavor, serving to spread her people's name, their good cause. It was to be a long journey, months easily, a year possibly, to her goal. It was a necessity, as much as it was worthy. Her people didn't act purely out of the good of their hearts, but they depended on the other clans' support, if their own undertaking was to continue for as long as necessary. Even if it was prophesied to be fulfilled in merely a few years.

A harsh winter cut deeply into their supplies, so they made a decision. Before the rations wouldn't allow them to keep up the clan, feed, house and warm everyone without worry, they would offer their services to others and, if it was possible for those others to bear it, ask for aid in return. Be it simple manual labor, purely knowledge, medicinal care, negotiations or fighting, the clansmen spread into the lands and sought out or were approached by the needy.

But, if she was honest with herself, the sole reason she left was to flee.

Flee their sneers – directed only at her –, their hushed comments – only when she was around – and their open resentment – so long as her father wasn't near. Nariko grew up in the clan that protects the Heavenly Sword, she was hated at first, barely tolerated the older she grew. Of course, they were never blatantly obvious, her father wouldn't have allowed it, but she knew. She always knew what they were saying behind her back, because it was always the same. _They fear what I represent. They fear, because they based their entire lives on and around the prophecy. And then I was born, completely untrue to this prediction from times long gone.._ And she suspected her father knew just as well.

The clansmen had no other choice but to believe Nariko was the one in the prophecies, as there had been no other newborn, nor any dead, on that day, the day of the flaming mare in the year of the firehorse. _No other dead, except for my mother. Who died because of me, or so they keep reminding me._

This unusual occurrence was first discovered by the clans living in close proximity, a few traders talked about how in those clans they visited, a few, immediately expecting women suddenly paused in their delivery when the previous day ended and the new one began. And when they went to the settlements further away, they found the same situation there. The news spread like wildfire, but Nariko's clan receiving a child on that same day never made it beyond the clans' walls.

For eighteen years, ever since she began to understand why none of the other children would be allowed to play with her, why no one ever visited their – her father's and her own – home if it wasn't for brief business, she tried to turn around the thought of their fear, if only in her head, to fuel her desire to live on. She tried to make herself believe they feared her because she might, in the end, still be the one to fulfill their divine duty.

Sometimes, though, it became too much to bear, but she didn't have any way out without appearing weak, defeated. One of the few things she wouldn't have allowed to happen, at any cost. _I will not give them the satisfaction. Never._ Finally, however, at now twenty two years old, she had a way to leave for a while. She didn't volunteer, especially not on that first moment's impulse she felt when they decided to go ahead with the plan of securing supplies. _Thank the heavens I had the patience._

No, it was them who sent her away, just how it needed to happen. And when she protested, if only to reinforce her resolve, she was delighted to see genuine fear in their eyes. _They grew wary with the what ifs that plagued their minds since my birth. Those minds that twisting their thoughts around until they believed their worst nightmares more likely to happen than their greatest hope._ She guessed it was **because** she protested that they sent her to one of the furthest clan settlements in the lands, but she kept quiet and accepted.

_Seen this way, it couldn't be called anything but running away._ She halted in her trudging through the thick snow on the mountain pass that she was just about half way across, many paces upward from her home's level. The deep breath she took from the crystal clear, ice cold air hurt in her lungs. A welcome sensation that successfully shook off the thoughts that entered her mind; the very thoughts she was here to forget about. _As it is with these things, hm? They always return when you least expect them._

The sun glared into her eyes as she walked right in the direction of its setting and it reminded her that she would need to set up a camp soon, or the night's coldness this high could freeze her to death. _The easy way out. I hate it._

She spotted a cavernous indentation just a bit further up, perfect for shielding her from the quickly increasing winds that already blew about large clouds of loose snow. Shaking once in a shiver, be it of anticipation of another night out under the stars or the freezing cold, she wasn't able to tell, she resettled the packed covers, food, drink and lamp oil, tied to her back in a neat package and pulled the thick, warm bearskin jacket tighter.

–

The fire, created with the lamp oil and dead wood from the mountain, crackled in front of her. The wind blew fiercely around her cover, but the indentation was deep enough into the rock that not even the fire got disturbed, the warm light flickering over her only by its own nature.

Sated by the dried food, warmed by the fire and tired from the climb up the mountain, she felt her head fall to the side as she leaned against the strangely warm rock at her back. She tried to keep herself awake, knowing that the recently returned thoughts of home would undoubtedly recall the dream as well. _No!_ _I don't want to see it! Not today!_ But, despite her strength and endurance, the journey took its toll and she was unable to resist the lure of sleep.

And so she saw them again. The pictures produced in her mind that showed her father on the verge of ending her life. The tremendous sword in his hands lifted above his head, far enough to provide the speed to end it quickly and painlessly. Even in her dreams, as the sword descended on her, guided by her weeping father's strong arms, even as she feels the need to call for him to stop, one betraying thought, like always, made its way into the foreground of everything.

_Finally._

It was the first time in a very long while that she awoke with a start. The first lights of the day made their way over the edge of her cover, illuminating the entire mountain, giving the pristine, white snow a glaring glow. It made her close her eyes as she stretched out the kinks of a rather uncomfortable night, even though she had her long, red hair wrapped around her neck, as a scarf and cushion.

_That was...unusually intense._ The possible reasons why the dream always end on that kind of emotional note eluded her and she wasn't willing to ponder it. _It isn't like I want to die, so why..._ But thoughts had a habit of coming full circle and thus the contradiction always kept her head busy, confused for a while. _At least it distracts from other thoughts as well._ Though she sighed at the obvious path her mind took yet again. _What's with me at the moment?_

Luckily she had a way of distracting herself entirely, having to pack, put out the fire from her day's first meal and covering the ashes with snow, finally continuing on her way over the pass.

–

The path Nariko took toward her goal was a detour along a part of the lands that, to her knowledge, no one had visited so far. She could only wonder why, because the breathtaking scenery that started to spread in front of her made the side-trip worth all on its own.

The mountain pass, though not the range, ended a little over a day ago, her journey interrupted by another night of fitful sleep, but at least without the dream. The intense cold and snow had let up even earlier, so the pack on her back grew, as she shed a few layers of warming cloth. At first, she wandered through a barren land, barely any other colors than the gray of the rocks and the brown of the soil, dead trees and unhealthy looking bushes.

A little further, rocks and boulders burrowed even that little sign of life, narrowing the path to barely four feet wide. But when she rounded the end of an offshoot of the mountain, protruding a few paces into the land, it brought her to the end of the mountain range itself.

The steep, but manageable way down opened up a view onto a very green forest stretching far up to the horizon. Dotted with clearings that varied largely in size, some of which filled with small water bodies and a few of them filled entirely by large lakes, glistening in a rich blue under the late morning sunlight. The clear sky and only very little snow made Nariko assume that the worst of the winter weather was trapped on the other side of the mountain.

What caught Nariko's attention immediately, however, were gigantic, very obviously man made stone columns, that reached almost twice as high as the trees. Between almost two dozen of them were a few dome like buildings, by the looks of it made of the same stone, which looked like they could each house entire clans by themselves. They seemed to form a path, veering to the right, in the direction of another arm of the mountain range, but she couldn't tell exactly how much further they reached there.

The longer Nariko looked over the area, fascinated, captivated, the more she noticed the damage those towers and buildings further away seemed to have suffered. _Is that the reason no one went here in such a long time? Because they knew and along the years it just settled in peoples' minds that this area is no good?_ Before she started to speculate, guess or worry, Nariko climbed down the steep path, making her way into the forest.

As she passed one of the lakes, much bigger than what they seemed like on closer inspection, she found the water bodies were submerging trees' roots on large parts of the forest. It made her path much harder to navigate, since she had no desire to swim. _A bath would be very welcome, though. But not before I checked the area. Wouldn't want to run into anything that caused the people to move and buildings to partially collapse._

It took her half a day to make her way to the spot she chose to go to from up above, an area where a half dozen domes and three of the towers stood in close proximity, unlike the rest of them. The reason for which she could see when she walked closer to the largest dome, the first of the buildings in her path. They were, apparently and logically, built on the patches of dry land that were surrounded by the submerged forest. And this was simply the largest dry area.

The patches of well worn ground told a lot of how busy it must have been at some point, if it hadn't even regrown weeds, whereas other patches showed overflowing greenery in symmetric fields that clearly served to grow crops, but had long since been abandoned. Nariko also found a few symmetric fields within the submerged area, making her wonder what kind of crop was cultivated there, since she had never seen such a thing. Leaving that aside – it didn't help her any, to know what these people grew – she made her way closer to one of the domes.

The closer she got, the more obvious it became how much work was put into these buildings. Otherwise silky smooth surfaces were carved into, to form artwork of inspiring detail. If Nariko would have had to guess, the pictograms seemed to display historic events. When she compared them to another building's carvings, it appeared to show the history of each group of people living in the individual dome.

As she lacked reference to any explanation of events that were depicted, she couldn't even venture a guess how long these kinds of records were kept, but seeing how the pictograms were continuing up the building at least as far as she could see, she assumed they collected them for a very long time. _I have never seen such a thing before. Why go through all the trouble? Why not just record it on paper?_

The inside of the domes were almost empty, barely any scraps of decayed cloth that had served as curtains to the entrance dangled above the doorway. A few shelves, tables and chairs could be identified from the rotten remains. _So they didn't even bother to pack when moving..wherever?_ Though there was no pottery, cutlery or other kinds of every day necessities, so they had to have packed at least some things.

The other domes had the same decay, only the biggest still had a bit of complete furniture left. It seemed to be a gathering point for the people, judging by the arrangement of things it might have served as a hall for festivities or other, more important conventions, providing seats for at least a hundred. Nariko was a lot more interested in the damaged buildings she could only see in the distance from above, though, so she continued through the forest in their general direction.

Her way along the dry paths led her past more of the buildings, the further she went towards the other end of the mountain range, the better the state of the buildings turned out to be. _So they spread this way, setting up new housings along. That means, since those even further were damaged...it must have been something relatively recent._ Though the structures looked very old still, that thought was enough to put her on her guard and from then on her hand rested on the hilt of her sword.

The sunset made her wonder why she bothered to continue her current course. _It's not like I'm a historian. I have no actual incentive to go on further, do I? But still...I want to see what damaged these magnificent things that no one seemed to know about before._

She had had enough time on her way through the forest to think about if she ever heard any indication of what she found here, but her clan was tight knit and somewhat unsociable until they decided to venture out to the people. However, it wasn't like they never heard, or shut out anything about the outside world, so it was unlikely for them to not know about this if there were others who did. _It is possible, though, that those who knew kept quiet on purpose._ Her grip on the hilt tightened.


	2. Chapter 2

It was at the twilight of the evening when Nariko reached the furthest of the buildings she had seen from the vantage point on the mountain. There were a lot more of them and much more tightly packed, because the foothills provided stable ground to build upon. If the woods wouldn't have been so eerily quiet for the recent while, she would have expected to meet the inhabitants, but no sounds were forthcoming from anywhere, only the wind rustling the treetops.

The sight that opened up to her when she left the treeline, though, made her snap to a battle ready stance instantly. Her eyes roamed over the open area dotted with obviously very recent versions of the domes, showing very little wear. Pristine, except for large holes in most of them, complete collapse of others. Decorated tables in front of the entrances, little of which remained in one piece, covered in rubble and other remains of destruction. The sight in front of her answered any guess of where the people might have gone.

In the form of piles of dead bodies.

The stench of decay had already fled the place, so Nariko was utterly surprised by what she found. _What in the world happened here?_ While keeping an eye on her surroundings, she stepped closer to a body. From what she could tell, factoring in that it was late in one of the longest winter periods her people knew of, it seemed appropriate to guess their time of demise in months, maybe even as long as a year, this high up near the usually colder mountains. _At least on the other side of it. Anyway, how could nobody know of this?_

The answer came in the form of a few dead that were obviously not locals. One of them, strangely in the midst of the battle, a standard bearer. The flag he carried bore the insignia of King Bohan. _Unbelievable._ Nariko's hand left her sword's hilt, sure that the troops have long since left. She knew, because her clan watched them closely at home, preparing, in case the man knew about the prophecy and the sword. Instead of anger, sadness or even empathy, Nariko simply felt empty at the sight before her, not allowing herself to grieve for these strangers. _So much pointless death._

Nariko wandered through the battlefield, her step careful, lest she steps into a trap that some of the king's troops were known for. The body count rising quickly with each new direction she took. _He cut down a civilization that no one seemed to know about. Why? This_ she looks over the masses of unarmed dead. Men, women, children, no distinction between them, but the size of their remains. Easily a hundred by what she can see alone. _doesn't look like an opposing force. It is more like a slaughter for the sake of it._

She turned to leave, seeing how she could do nothing for these bodies, not even give them a proper burial as the ground was frozen too hard. And she really didn't want to stay, because the feeling arose that this will be a sight seen much too often in her future. _Besides, they have laid here for so long, their spirits either found peace in the heavens or will never find it again._ A flare of anger adds another thought _Unless Bohan joins them, so they can take their revenge on his spirit._ But she was certain that wouldn't happen any time soon, mainly because her own people would rather wait and see how that monster continued its warring and pillaging.

One of the piles of rock a few steps behind her suddenly collapsed with a clutter that resounded like a gunshot into the utter silence. That in itself, it wouldn't have startled Nariko as much as it did, but the clearly audible sound of a sharp intake of breath had her ready for battle once more. But there was no more sound or movement, aside from the last pebbles of the pile that slid off the larger rock and left only a small, short lived stream of dust trickling down its side quietly.

Before she took any chances in turning her back on the unexpectedly sudden unstable pile, she inched closer, prepared to draw her sword at any minute inconsistency. The closer she got, the more audible became a ragged, pained and desperately muted breathing – whimpering really – from underneath. _Good god, don't tell me someone survived in this..._ She refused to name it again, its senselessness apparent enough by itself.

Only three steps away at best, Nariko slowly unsheathed her sword. Just when it was halfway out, a figure exploded from underneath the dirt pile, directly in her direction. She didn't even have the time to wonder why it didn't flee, but attacked instead.

Left with no other choice, because she didn't want to kill anyone who might have survived here this long, Nariko realigned her center of gravity, raised her foot and timed it just so that the figure connects with it and absorbed its forward motion, basically catching it. Bending her knee for what would now be a powerful shove instead of a blow, she heaves the surprisingly light, but fiercely, determinedly screaming figure away from herself. Only then did she draw her sword, uncertain what might be forthcoming now. Before she even fully rose the sword, a duo of arrows flew toward her. But as she was prepared to evade anything first, attack later, she managed to do so efficiently.

Now that the other person – as it had to be, handling weaponry – turned out to be armed, Nariko decided on a preemptive attack, burst into a sprint and closed the short distance in the blink of an eye. Briefly, during the quick dash, the question of why there were no more arrows coming, when the person could eject two of them nearly at once entered her mind. _No matter._ her mind supplied.

She raised her sword, its blunt side turned toward the attacker, for a powerful blow, wanting to end this uneven fight as quickly as possible, when her last step took her directly in front of the other person. The moment she saw the curled up figure, cowering pained and defenseless, her mind brought back the pictures of her father, with his sword lifted above his head, ready to take her life. Startled, shocked, Nariko stopped dead in her tracks, horrified that this would happen now, or at all.

In the moments until she regained her bearings, she watched the figure closely. Covered more than dressed in dirty, worn and torn rags, it didn't seem likely they were much use against the cold weather. Nariko could tell that the effort of attacking took every bit of energy the little creature had left. The girl, as it turned out, was malnourished near death, breathing very strained, but she couldn't see any obvious signs of injury. Her makeshift clothes were drenched in mud and other grime, but not a single sign on her that suggested she belonged with Bohan.

_Good god._ her mind repeated. Nariko's sword slowly lowered to her side, all notions for a fight gone, worry and grief finally taking its place. Heavy enough, the sword embeds itself, standing upright in the patch of sufficiently soft soil underneath the two of them, as it left her hand. She knelt down next to the little thing in front of her, unsure of what to do.

But she underestimated the inhuman strength of a frantically cornered, so she finds herself laying on her back a moment later. Already the girl had picked up a big stone, lifted over her head to bring it down and defend herself as best she can, with everything she has. Nariko almost laughed out loud, tears pricking at her eyes. _What a strange coincidence. Three times nearly the same picture, three different conclusions._ In hindsight, she doubted there was much intent, other than defense.

Nariko quickly had her hands up in defense herself and grabbed the tiny arms of her opponent, shushing soothingly all the while writhing around the little thing to lock her in place. It proved a difficult task, as this girl seemed to be lithe and strong, despite the seeming lack of energy only moments earlier, Nariko had to put quite a bit of strength into holding the girl in place.

"It's okay! Shh, calm down!" she tries. Nariko didn't believe for a moment this girl gave up when she felt the struggles lessen. She was certain that she only lost her last reserves of power with that last ditch attempt to fend of the attacker. "Shh..." The stone fell out of the girl's hands and she stops moving entirely, just as suddenly as everything began, this time with the girl on her back, quiet, unmoving.

_Resigned. Resigned to her fate._ Nariko thought, but didn't allow herself to feel pity for the girl. The instinct of a person in this kind of situation is on the very peak of efficiency, which might mean she could have picked up on the changing mood and that would have only made things worse again. "Shh..." she soothed still, wearing a genuine smile now, at the valiantness of this girl. It seemed to work, defusing the situation as well, because the raggedly breathing girl looked up at her, extremely wary, but with a hint of curiosity in huge, turquoise eyes... _She expected to be dead already._

For a moment, they stared at each other, until Nariko decided to open her hand with which she held the scrawny arms in place above the girls head, pinned to the ground. She didn't immediately let up the downward pressure, but the girl showed no sign of twitching out her now freed hands, so Nariko slowly raised her own arms and, equally slowly sat herself upright, straddling the figure whose breathing had slightly normalized. _Good. Now what?_

On a whim, cocking her head at the girl, looking for any reaction to being partially freed, but none forthcoming, Nariko slowly got up and took her weight off the girl entirely. So she doesn't scare her again, she remained in a squatting position, leaving enough room for the girl to scramble away from her a little. Just out of reach, even if Nariko were to jump from her position, which would take a moment longer to propel herself than for the girl to escape.

Her smile still in place, Nariko greeted with a quiet, simple "Hello." As if she sensed the forthcoming action, the girl tensed up rigidly before Nariko spoke, but remained in her place about threesteps away. "So you do understand I don't mean you any harm?" _Does she even speak my language?_ The question answers itself, when the girl actually nods. _Well, that was unexpected. It's amazing that she is still up and alive. But why did she stay?_

"Can you fully understand me?" Another nod.

"Are you the only one?" Nod.

"Can you tell how long it's been?" She doesn't go into details with her questions, knowing full well that anything could set the girl off again, aside that it was obvious, really, what she meant. But, contrary to anything Nariko could have imagined, the girl smiled at her, picked up a twig and scribbled the number Five into the sand. _Five months, I suppose._

"How do you know?" A shrug.

"How old are you?" Another scribble told Nariko the girl was sixteen years old.

"Have you been alone the entire time?" Nod.

"How did you survive?" The girl cocked her head, perhaps in imitation and the only answer given is a finger pointed at Nariko's side and a wave of a hand that indicated toward their surroundings. When Nariko turned around to look at what the girl had pointed, she realized that next to her laid the device with which the girl shot the arrows. _So she picked up whatever she could find and actually hunted for food. That makes it all the more unnecessary to stay._

Nariko shifted her weight to one side, wanting to stand up as she felt confident the girl wouldn't dash away again, after trusting her enough to...well, converse, in her own way. "Can you tell me, somehow, why you didn't leave...hey!" But, again at her initial motion, the girl leapt past her like a flash and picked up something that Nariko didn't notice before. _All that energy left. Amazing._

The back of the girl was turned to her, but even then with just enough space separating the two, so an escape attempt should have turned out successful, Nariko got up fully and turned toward the girl. Who turned around quickly, smiling brightly and presented the thing she picked up.

_Oh heavens no!_ Nariko found herself staring at a hollow, ironically grinning skull, pristine, aside from a few spots of dirt from where it had laid a moment ago and a mark under the jaw bone that clearly indicating the way this person perished. It was then thatshe realized just how far beyond mere shock the girl was over the surrounding bloodshed. "Oh god, who is that?" The rather unnecessary question slipped out before she could stop herself, but, of course, there was no answer. _She doesn't talk._

Taken aback by the distraught, but confused expression on the girl's face as she hugged the skull close to her chest, she didn't know what to say or do. But she gathered _Oh..it must be a family member, or some else close._ Surprisingly, the girl picked up another tool to scribble in the sand. When the girl finished, Nariko felt her heart skip a beat and she choked up as she read the single word.

_Mother._

Tears clouded her vision, but she suppressed them from overflowing as best she could. A very difficult task, when the one causing them smiled at her brightly, as if she'd just proudly introduced her family. Then and there Nariko decided that she would at least try to help the girl, if at all possible, how ever she can. It put her in a bit of a spot, though. _I can't ask, or worse force her to come with me. The journey could kill her and even if not, meeting more people would definitely scare her off._

So she looked around, seeing if a decent shelter could be established here. _Well, if need be, there are a lot of houses left around. Though they will be pretty chilly at night. But then, she survived in them.._ Still, her own decision made, she didn't know what the girl would think about it. _She has absolutely no reason to trust me, just because I didn't kill her straight away._ Since she's been understood so far, Nariko tries a direct approach, thinking that any kind of planning or beating around the bush would only scare the girl away from her.

Eying the skull at the girl's side warily, but with a twinge to her heart, she addressed the seemingly absentminded girl, who was scribbling meaningless signs and shapes into the sand. "Listen." Nariko was certain that the girl's attention was in no way absent, that she was merely waiting for herself to do or say something, even if it would have been just her going away. So she wasn't surprised when the girl immediately looked up to her, an expectant expression from the huge eyes set in the small face.

_Wait, why didn't I think of this first?_ "Can you write down your name?" The girl seemed to be quite intelligent, despite being far off course with her mind. _That should have been my first question, when she first wrote._ And the girl doesn't disappoint. But in a very different way than what Nariko expected.

"Kai." declared the girl, when she pointed at her grinning self.

"Oh." Nariko's mind drew a blank, unable to comprehend why the girl...Kai would suddenly decide to talk, even if it was only her name. She shook herself back into focus and inched a bit closer to the girl, curious if there would be more forthcoming. But she was already drawing in the sand again, so Nariko decided just to proceed as she planned, except that she dared to actually get even closer. "Well, thank you for even talking to me, Kai." since that sentence bore no necessity for a response, Kai simply continued her scribbling.

"Hey." Nariko hushed and moved slowly, as not to startle the girl. It appeared to work, as Kai allowed her – and Nariko did not doubt for a second it would be impossible without approval from her, however indirect – to put her fingers under the small, pointy chin, lift it up and pull it to face her. This close up, Nariko was startled by the depth and color of those green eyes, but even more so by the simple acceptance of this kind of interaction. "I..."

A new attempt, after she cleared her throat and leaned away from the searching eyes that were, randomly in synch with the head, twitching in uncertainty, from left to right and back to her own, worked a lot better. _But she still allowed the touch to begin with._ "Would you like to get away from here? From all this?" Nariko's voice seemed to recapture the attention of the girl completely, until she elaborated "I am on my way to a clan quite a ways from here..." at which Kai drew back quickly, the open expression on the face now turned away from her closed up immediately.

But Nariko used the same light touch to incite Kai to look at her again. "Shh, it's okay. I know that you don't want that." she reassured and yet again, the girl seemed to believe her and waited expectantly for more words to follow. "I wouldn't want to take you to those people." She looked around, pointed, so that Kai followed her line of sight "But it will do you no good to stay here." _It damaged so much already._ "I have a lot of time, so we could, maybe, make our way to one of the further, older houses first and set up a small camp. Just the two of us" she adds quickly "and get your health back up first. I have a bit of medicine with me that should work."

Kai seemed to hesitate for a bit, but rather than apprehension, Nariko could only see careful dampening of excitement when the girl looked at the skull. She could only imagine that she was searching for confirmation of her choice. If Kai ever received one, Nariko would never dare to ask, because for some reason it made her feel equally sad, repulsed and worried about the girl. _I don't know how she even manages to become excited..._ And when the answer came in form of another small nod and a hesitatingly hopeful smile, Nariko just had to ask "Kai." she breathed. "How can it be, that after all you endured, you are so quickly, so easily willing to go with me? Now I know I wish you know harm, but you don't...and after so much..."

"Kai was all alone until..." the raspy, high pitched voice that trailed off in confusion came as a surprise again. Nariko wouldn't have guessed for the girl to be able to speak this much, but it was good to hear "What's your name?" Expressions flowed over Kai's face, almost too quickly for Nariko to follow, it made an amusing display. From sadness to confusion, then inquisitive and finally settled on her expectant look, her head bobbed every which way with each change.

"My name is Nariko."

"That, I like." the girl said, nodding enthusiastically. "Kai also likes your hair." The random comment had Nariko touch the long, red tresses spilling down her back, bound in the intricate way her father said her mother wore, before...well. The thought made her look away, the nice feel of the compliment from the other girl vanished. _This is not the time to reminiscence._

Seemingly having found her train of thought again, Kai began her reasoning anew "Kai was all alone, until Nariko found me. Then Nariko came close to end my life, but chose not to. That is not like the other men. You even left your sword to calm me. Mother always said first impressions are important. And Kai's first impression of Nariko was good. If Nariko wanted me dead, I would be dead now, but you offer food and care."

That semblance of rational thought was again accompanied by Kai's twitchy, bobbing head, and appreciative smiles at Nariko's treatment of her. This girl wouldn't let up surprising Nariko, though, and so, when the set of eyes that previously roamed their surroundings, suddenly fixated on the startled red of her own, Nariko was stunned by the very apparent clarity of mind Kai displayed seemingly out of nowhere. "Seems like a good deal, no?" she asks thus.


End file.
